15231: radtimes: Trees in Haiti Fall Victim to Poverty of the People (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: radtimes <resist@best.com>

Trees in Haiti Fall Victim to Poverty of the People
         By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/03/23/international/americas/23HAIT.html

FORĘT DES PINS, Haiti, March 22 — In a musty shop near the capital's
dilapidated
cemetery, Josue Termidor takes a rasp, gently sanding a coffin made of avocado
tree planks. A decade ago, the coffin would have been carved from heavy
mahogany.

"All the good wood is gone," says Mr. Termidor, 32, his fingernails caked with
putty used to seal the brittle wood. "It's got harder to make a living, and the
lack of wood makes families disappointed and the dead angry."

Once blanketed by lush forests, Haiti is now nearly 90 percent deforested.
Competing against a demand that has far exceeded supply, the Caribbean nation
loses more than 30 million trees a year to provide wood, fuel and work to a
desperate population.

"The peasants cutting down the trees make even less," added Mr. Termidor,
flanked by a metallic mauve "tęte-boeuf" or first-class coffin.

Haiti's president, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, leader of the poorest nation in the
Western Hemisphere, has been unable to tackle poverty, unemployment and
political instability, let alone the environmental tragedy.

Efforts have been stymied by rivalries between the government and opposition,
with millions of dollars in international aid suspended since flawed 2000
legislative elections. Some was earmarked for environmental projects.

"We face a total ecological disaster," Mr. Aristide said last month.
"Misery and
the lack of education are making people cut more trees."

Money would allow the government to prosecute illegal loggers and pursue and an
aggressive literacy plan to teach people the value of trees, he said.

But trees are vulnerable even at Foręt des Pins, the Pine Forest National Park
that is one of Haiti's few protected areas.

A "No Tree Cutting" sign hangs above the entrance to the forest, on the border
with the Dominican Republic. Trash is scattered about the giant pine trees,
which have deep hack marks in their thin trunks. Loggers make nightly journeys
here, slowly hacking away at trees until they fall. The next day, they are on a
truck to the capital, Port-au-Prince.

"The problem is simple, just stop cutting down the trees," said Joel Joseph, a
forest ranger with the Ministry of Agriculture. "But you have to have the
resources to educate people and to enforce the law. I say the problem is
simple,
but deep down I know we're headed for disaster."

In 12 years Mr. Joseph has watched his forest disappear, to 34,580 acres from
93,860. Roadblocks are set up to stop illegal loggers, and their logs are
confiscated. But even if they are caught, the rangers lack the power to arrest
them.

Political instability has also accentuated the despair, pushing hundreds to the
forests for a source of income.

"When there are political problems in Port-au-Prince, more people come up here
with chain saws," Mr. Joseph said.

The scarcity also affects farmers. With no tree roots to hold the soil, topsoil
has disappeared and fewer vegetables can grow. Some farmers also report a
change
in weather.

"Because there are fewer trees, there's also less rain," said a 40-year-old
farmer, Cedner Jean. "Dew allows us to grow cabbage, potatoes and beans but we
can't grow anything else anymore."

It takes a dozen planks, which cost $60, to make Mr. Termidor's shoddy casket.
Each sells for an average of $200, and with the profit he pays seven employees,
the rent and transport for the planks.

Coffins are potent symbols in Haiti, where properly burying the dead is
tantamount to ensuring protection for the living. But without wood, Mr.
Termidor
risks angering grieving families and his employees.

For Mr. Termidor, "It's a good business because more people are dying." When he
began 15 years ago he made nine coffins a month. Now he makes 15. "But without
trees," he said, "we're all going to end up dead."

Copyright 2003 The New York Times Company

[John Perlin's book "A forest journey: the role of wood in the development of
civilization" (1989, Harv U Pr) delineates the exploitive folly of
civilizations
whose respect for the biosphere led to exploitation of resources such as wood.]